16. He told a wonderful tale, how he had escaped from the Tower, and related many adventures which he said had befallen him; so the Irish people said they would fight for him, and try to take the crown from king Henry; but as they could not raise a sufficient force by themselves, Warbeck applied to the king of France, who also promised to help him, and then he went to the Duchess of Burgundy, who was Edward the Fourth’s sister, and, strange to say, that lady declared she believed the young man was her brother’s son, and persuaded the Flemings to lend him their aid.
17. But the king of France changed his mind; and made a treaty of peace with king Henry, who ordered the English merchants not to carry on any trade with Flanders while the Flemings continued to favour the cause of Perkin Warbeck, so they deserted him too.
18. I have not the room to tell you the rest of his adventures, but they ended in his being taken prisoner by the king, who had him put to death as a traitor. Henry the Seventh reigned twenty-four years, and was succeeded in 1509 by his son, Henry the Eighth.
19. The young king was married to Catharine of Arragon, the daughter of the king of Spain, a beautiful and talented woman, who deserved a better husband, for Henry was a sad tyrant in his family, as well as over the nation.
20. The greatest man in the kingdom next to the king, was his minister, Cardinal Wolsey, who governed the country for many years, and was so rich, that he not only lived in as much splendour as the king, but he built the palaces of Hampton-court and Whitehall, and founded the College of Christ Church at Oxford.
21. A Cardinal is a priest of high dignity in the Catholic Church, being next in rank to the Pope.
22. Wolsey was clever and learned; but he was very proud, so he had many enemies, and at last fell into disgrace with the king, and died of grief.
23. Soon after this Henry chose to be separated from his good wife, Catharine, because he had seen a young lady named Anna Boleyn, whom he thought he should like to marry; so he sent the queen and his daughter Mary, away from court, and made Anna Boleyn queen; but he soon began to dislike her, and said she had done some very wicked things, as an excuse for sending her to the Tower, where he had her head cut off; and then he married another young lady, named Jane Seymour, who soon died. She left a little baby, who was king Edward the Sixth; and Anna Boleyn also had a baby, who was queen Elizabeth.
24. I must now tell you of a great change made by Henry the Eighth, with regard to religion, and called the Reformation.
25. The church of England had, till this period, been the same as that of Rome, and the people were Roman Catholics; but there were a good many people in Germany, and in England also, who thought that some of the forms of the Catholic religion were not right, and ought to be altered, and these persons were called reformers, and all who adopted their opinions took the name of Protestants, because they protested against certain things.